I'm finishing up a concert for a pretty big band but with a smaller budget. I'm onlining the show from 1080 to 4k which I've done several times before, no issue. However, the first few songs, the lighting was VERY dark so to get approval from band management etc., we had to boost the picture quite a bit (on an adjustment layer for this particular section of this song I used Lumetri - exposure 1.5, shadows 80, blacks -18, saturation 141) however now I'm getting pretty bad artifacts. Is there an easy fix or additional plugin to remove these artifacts? Here's a sample from the drummer, dark is with no cc. BTW, I'm on Yosemite, PP 2017 (no memory leaks, woohoo!).

What camera was this shot with? If it's a camera that shoots to H.264 or AVCHD (an H.264 variant), then you are dealing with 8-bit color, and yes, any pushing you do will bring out the encoding artifacts. Low data rate H.264 is low because it highly compresses the footage, if you push things a lot, that compression becomes apparent.

heck, even boosting 10bit footage that's that dark will bring out grain/digital grain. Just like turning up GAIN on a camera will. Artifacts hide in the dark, brighten them and they can be seen. Unavoidable. The shot is really dark, and boosting it will bring out the artifacts. You can try converting it to ProRes and then grading it...that might help A LITTLE, but not tons, it's still a compressed source.

This is why proper exposure, especially for lower data rate formats, is essential.

(I said this ALL BASED on an assumption that the footage is 8-bit, but looking at the bottom image, that's what it looks like to me)

Thanks Shane as always. The first couple songs were the main problem area as the lighting tech didn't execute the original plan for lighting, by song 3 it was all dialed in.

It was shot with 9 Alexas as the main cams, then two roaming Alexas, some DSLR roamers and then maybe 5 gopros, it was a big show at a huge venue for a big band - I'm staying vague so this thread isn't attached to their names on the internet when people search for them.

My source files are ProRes 4444 (I cut with ProRes Proxy 1080 files, wow those are amazing) and each file that runs through the entire show is around 700GB each.

So it sounds like we'll just have to accept the consequences of being dark and boosting up then eh? We still need it to pass QC before it airs, I wonder if this will bounce us...

I'll add that it's why I go straight to the LD in pre-production and make sure that they add a few source 4s, or reserve some movers to be on as front lights for the entire show. Then give the producers an option, are you lighting for the audience, or the camera?

Everyone loves blue, but it's the worst offender, especially LEDs since blue is the noisiest color in your camera.

The worst case scenario is when they are pointed straight at the camera and you are in auto iris.

I am alas just the editor so I have no idea what happened in prepro or on shoot day. It's a good director friend of mine who's directed concerts for Madonna, Kanye etc. but was pretty angry at how things transpired with the LD and those first couple songs, not sure exactly what transpired. Clearly they were just lighting for the audience during the first couple then got on the same page. Ugh.

Can anyone speak to if this sort of artifacting will get the show bounced during QC? We need a green light QC report from a post house before submitting for broadcast.

If there is anyone at the management company who is so upset that they wish to spend a bit to fix the issues, take the material to a professional colorist who has the paid version of Resolve and REALLY knows how to use it. The full version of Resolve has noise reduction built-in, and a seasoned pro can probably pull some tricks out of their arsenal, such as a bi-pack, with which you may not have in your arsenal.